Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas (philosopher, sociologist) | |
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Born | 18 June 1929 Düsseldorf, Germany |
Nationality | German |
Alma mater | University of Bonn, University of Marburg |
Spouse | Ute Wesselhöft |
Member of | "The New Humanitarians" |
German philosopher and sociologist. |
Jürgen Habermas is a German philosopher and sociologist.
Habermas's theoretical system is devoted to revealing the possibility of reason, emancipation, and rational-critical communication latent in modern institutions and in the human capacity to deliberate and pursue rational interests. This philosophical outlook changed on a dime during Covid-19, when he supported every dictatorial government measure[1].
Covid-19
In a 2021 essay, Habermas came to the conclusion that the "The state is dependent on an unusual level of cooperation from the population, which demands strong restrictions from all citizens, even from different, unequally burdened groups, solidarity services. In fact, it must be able to legally enforce these solidarity contributions for functional reasons alone....Then, of course, these extraordinary contributions of solidarity by the citizens are hardly recognizable as such. True, they are still recognized as a civic contribution to a democratically decided collective effort; but they lose their voluntary character because they have to be "levied" by the state, even if with legal authorization, for functional reasons alone with legal coercion. There is no doubt about the legitimacy of these mandatory solidarity contribution if a will legitimated by the legislature decides which citizens must be expected to bear which burdens in order not to have to accept an avoidable increase in infection and death rates.[2]